The term C-076 is used to describe a series of compounds isolated from the fermentation broth of a C-076 producing strain of Streptomyces avermitilis. The morphological characteristics of the culture are completely described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 772,601. The C-076 compounds are a series of macrolides with hydroxy substituents capable of being acylated. Some of the C-076 compounds have more than one hydroxy group which are capable of being acylated, and procedures have been developed for the selective acylation at the various positions. The acyl compounds thus produced have profound anthelmintic, insecticidal, ectoparasiticidal and acaracidal activity.
Based on taxonomic studies, the microorganisms capable of producing these C-076 compounds are of a new species of the genus Streptomyces, which has been named Streptomyces avermitilis. One such culture, isolated from soil is designated MA-4680 in the culture collection of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey. A C-076 producing sample of this culture has been deposited in the permanent culture collection of the Permentation Section of the Northern Utilization Research Branch, U.S. Department of Agriculture at Peoria, Ill., and has been assigned the accession number NRRL 8165. A sample of NRRL 8165 has also been deposited, without restriction as to availability, in the permanent culture collection of the American Type Culture Collection at 12301 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Md. 20852, and has been assigned the accession number ATCC 31,267.
The above microorganism is illustrative of a strain of Streptomyces avermitilis which can be employed in the production of the C-076 compounds. However, such description also embraces mutants of the above described microorganism. For example, those C-076 producing mutants which are obtained by natural selection or those producted by mutating agents including X-ray irradiation, ultraviolet irradiation, nitrogen mustard or like treatments are also included within the ambit of this invention.
One example of such an organism is a strain of Streptomyces avermitilis MA 4848 which was isolated after irradiation with ultraviolet light of Streptomyces avermitilis MA 4680. A lyophilized tube and a frozen vial of this culture has been deposited in the permanent culture collection of the American Type Culture Collection, and they have been assigned the accession numbers 31272 and 31271 respectively. Slightly higher fermentation yields of C-076 have been obtained using this frozen stock as inoculum.